1920(民國9年), CHINESE JUNKS(中國帆船), A BOOK OF DRAWINGS IN BLACK & WHITE BY IVON . A . DONNELLY, PUBLISHED BY KELLY AND WALSH LIMITED(上海)《Black Water Museum Collections | 黑水博物館館藏》
Prefatory Note.
To those interested in marine art this book will be of great interest. The subject of the work is one which offers a vast field for either brush, pen or pencil artists and which does not appear to have received much attention hitherto. It can well be seen that Mr. Donnelly has studied his subject very carefully.
There is no other country in the world that has a larger variety of sailing craft (junks) than China. Each bay, inlet, cove, river, and lake builds a type of boat to suit its own requirements of trade, weather or harbourage, and it can be seen that in each case the design has been well thought out.
There are fewer hardier seamen than the Chinese junkman. His boat is built as a means of earning a livelihood and no consideration of sentiment has been allowed to influence him in giving his boat an appearance of smartness or comfort. Such paintings as it does receive is solely as a preservative plus a certain amount of decorative work that is necessary for Joss and superstition.
China's junks comprise the largest part of the countries Mercantile Marine. They are engaged chiefly in the Home Trade and seldom go further abroad than Korea, Taiwan, or the islands in the South China Sea. The Foreigner has never had occasion to take much interest in the junks as they have seldom had to use them for either travel or commerce.
A few of the chief points of interest in this large fleet are, that their design has in most cases not altered for thousands of years: that they have received but little official control or supervision by any such organization as a Board of Trade which would require them to have a certain standard of safety of travel but have been allowed to come and go unhindered after having paid a certain portage tax: that the advent of foreign vessels in China's waters has in no way influenced a change in design which shows either strict conservatism or perfection in original design.
The weather and ocean currents of the China Coast make its navigation by sailing craft no simple matter. During the winter there is the cold and bleak north-east monsoon. In the summer typhoons make navigation most dangerous. When one stops to consider that this large fleet of junks is sailed to and fro by men devoid of all scientific knowledge of navigation and who rely on their local knowledge for the safety of their voyages, it makes one admire their skilfulness as sailors. The only instrument of navigation used on these vessels is the old fashioned Chinese compass that is usually stowed away the recess of some locker and only brought out on occasions when land is lost sight of.
The records of piracy on the China seas and rivers make one shudder at their awfulness and cruelty which eclipses that of any other land. The chief victims of these crimes have been the junkmen who have sailed the various types of junks depicted in this volume.
The Author has supplied the public with an artistic little handbook of reference which will be of value and interest to all those who go down to the sea in ships. It is to be hoped that he will in the near future, be able to augment the volume by including boats and junks sailing on the rivers and inland waterways of China.
S. V. M.
SHANGHAI (上海), 10th May, 1920.(民國9年)
前言
對於喜愛海洋藝術的人來說,將會對這本書感到極大的興趣。本作品的主題為毛筆畫家、鋼筆畫家及鉛筆畫家提供了相當開闊的領域,而到目前為止這主題似乎也未得到太多關注。可以看出唐納利先生非常仔細地研究了他的主題。
這世上沒有其它的國家擁有比中國更多樣式的帆船(中國帆船),每一個港灣、小水港、小海灣、河流及湖泊都造就了一種形式的船以合乎其生意上、氣候方面及停泊靠岸的需求,而在每一種情況下都可發現其設計的深思熟慮。
能比中國帆船員更吃苦耐勞的船員不多,他的船是為了謀生目的而建造的工具,沒有絲毫的情感考量允許他將船的外表弄得精巧或是舒適。船上之彩繪僅僅只是為了防止木頭腐爛,而加上某些程度的裝飾性作品則是為了神祇與迷信之所需。
中國的商船船隊大部份由中國帆船組成,主要從事國內貿易,鮮少遠航超過韓國、台灣或是南中國海的島嶼。外國人未曾有機會深入了解這些中國帆船因為他們很少有必須使用它來旅行或做生意的需要。
這支龐大的船隊的幾個主要引人興趣的點是:一是大多數的船的設計數千年不變,二是這些船幾乎沒有受到官方的管控與監督,像是貿易委員會這樣的機構要求他們達到航行的安全標準,但是付過運輸税後這些船隻可以來去自如。三則是外國船隻進入中國水域後根本沒有影響到這些船在設計上的改變,這顯示出要不是極端保守主義,就是原始的設計已臻完美。
中國沿海地區的天氣與洋流使得帆船的航行非常困難,冬天有寒冷刺骨的東北季風,而夏天的颱風對航行是最危險的。當人們仔細想一想這支龐大的船隊是由毫無航海的科學知識的人所來回操作,他們所依靠的是其在地知識以確保航行的安全,這使得我們不得不佩服他們的水手技術。這些船上唯一的導航工具是老式的中國羅盤,通常被收在某個櫃子的凹處裡,只有在看不見陸地的時候才會拿出來。
中國海域及江河上的海盜記錄令人不寒而慄,其惡行與殘暴遠勝其它地方。這些暴行的主要受害者正是本書中所描寫的各式各樣的中國帆船的船員。
作者為大眾提供了一本藝術性的參考小冊,對那些乘船入海的人極具價值與趣味,希望他在不久的將來能夠納入在中國河流及內陸水道航行的輪船與中國帆船,以增加此書內容。
S. V. M.
上海,民國9年(1920)5月10日。
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